Qimingxing, Seventh Junior High School, the principal's office.
Inside the spacious office, the atmosphere was solemn and serious.
Principal Zhao Zhenhua sat behind a large mahogany desk. Lined up neatly before him was a row of people—the homeroom teachers for all thirty-seven ninth-grade classes.
Today was the day the middle school entrance exam results were finalized, and it was also time for the school to reward its most accomplished staff.
On the desk in front of Zhao Zhenhua sat an exquisite metal briefcase with a combination lock.
Everyone knew what was inside the case: a cashier's check for two hundred thousand Imperial Coins and the "Golden Candle Award" medal, which represented the highest teaching honor at Seventh Middle School.
This award was given out only once a year to a single ninth-grade homeroom teacher, recognizing their outstanding contribution in cultivating top students.
Li Weiguo stood at the end of the line, his hands hanging naturally at his sides. His expression was calm, but deep in his eyes, he couldn't hide a trace of disappointment.
He knew that this year's honor would most likely have nothing to do with him.
The sole criterion for the "Golden Candle Award" was which class had the student with the very best results on the entrance exam.
In previous years, this honor had almost always been a contest between him and Wang Jianjun, the homeroom teacher of Class 9-1.
Wang Jianjun was a strict teacher with a firm hand. The class he led, Class 1, was widely recognized as the school's honors class, and every year it reliably sent several promising students to key Martial Arts High Schools.
Li Weiguo, on the other hand, often relied on his keen eye and ability to teach according to his students' aptitudes, frequently unearthing a dark horse or two from the regular classes to challenge Wang Jianjun.
But this year was different.
Li Weiguo's greatest trump card, Zhou Heyuan, had ended up with a life force index of 0.96. While an excellent score, it was still just a hair's breadth away from the 1.0 threshold.
Meanwhile, according to the news he'd heard, the top seed in Wang Jianjun's class, a student named Sun Hao, had performed consistently in the exam, achieving a life force index of 1.02.
0.96 versus 1.02. Though just a step apart, the difference was like that between heaven and earth.
The latter was a true Quasi-First Level Martial Artist, the kind of top-tier talent that would make the admissions offices of key Martial Arts High Schools light up.
Therefore, Li Weiguo had more or less accepted that this year's "Golden Candle Award" was already in Wang Jianjun's pocket.
Principal Zhao Zhenhua cleared his throat, his gaze sweeping over every teacher present.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."
His voice was deep and powerful. "In this year's entrance exams, Seventh Middle School's overall performance has seen steady improvement. Our acceptance rate for regular Martial Arts High Schools is up three percentage points from last year. This would not have been possible without the diligent efforts of every one of you here."
He paused, then changed his tone.
"Of course, we must look not only at the whole but also at the top. A school's prestige is ultimately determined by its most elite students. This year, our school has also produced a batch of exceptionally outstanding prospects."
He looked at Wang Jianjun, who was standing at the very front of the line, and a smile of approval spread across his face.
"Teacher Wang Jianjun, your student Sun Hao achieved a life force index of 1.02, ranking second in the entire school. He has already been provisionally accepted by Qimingxing Third Key Martial High School. Excellent work."
Wang Jianjun puffed out his chest, a reserved yet proud smile on his face.
The other teachers around him cast envious and congratulatory glances his way.
Standing at the back of the line, Li Weiguo sighed softly.
'Just as I thought.'
However, Principal Zhao Zhenhua's next words stunned everyone present.
Zhao Zhenhua's gaze passed over Wang Jianjun and landed on Li Weiguo at the end of the line. "However, if we're talking about the biggest surprise of the year, that would have to be your class, Teacher Li Weiguo."
Li Weiguo froze, thinking he must have misheard.
He watched as Zhao Zhenhua picked up the metal briefcase, personally walked down from the platform, strode through the crowd, and came to a stop directly in front of him.
"Teacher Li."
Zhao Zhenhua's face was beaming with an unprecedentedly brilliant, almost exaggerated smile. "Congratulations! This year's 'Golden Candle Award' and the two-hundred-thousand-coin prize belong to you!"
Under the shocked, astonished, and bewildered gazes of every teacher in the room, Zhao Zhenhua opened the briefcase with a sharp CLICK.
A thick stack of Imperial Coin checks, still smelling of fresh ink, and a solid gold medal engraved with a burning candle lay quietly on the red velvet lining.
"Principal, this... there must be some mistake, right?"
Li Weiguo was completely dumbfounded. He subconsciously took half a step back, waving his hands. "My class's best student, Zhou Heyuan, only has a life force index of 0.96. He can't compare to Sun Hao from Teacher Wang's class."
"Zhou Heyuan?"
Zhao Zhenhua paused for a second, then burst out laughing. "Oh, Teacher Li, Teacher Li, are you still trying to play dumb with me?"
He clapped Li Weiguo heavily on the shoulder and announced to the entire room in a booming voice:
"Perhaps you all haven't heard yet! Teacher Li Weiguo's student, Qin Feng, achieved an astonishing life force index of 1.23 in this year's entrance exam! His overall rank in all of Qimingxing is 67,321st!"
"This score isn't just the highest in the history of Seventh Middle School since its founding! It also shatters the record for our entire educational district for the past decade!"
BOOM!
The principal's words landed like a bombshell in the office.
All the teachers, including the previously proud Wang Jianjun, were completely flabbergasted, staring at Li Weiguo as if he were an alien.
1.23?!
A rank in the sixty-seven thousands?!
'What... what does that even mean?!'
'This isn't a matter of getting into a key Martial Arts High School anymore. This is a guaranteed spot in one of the top seven high schools!'
"Teacher Li, you really kept this one under wraps!"
"My god, 1.23... To think our school produced a genius of this caliber!"
"Old Li, you've really done it! So quiet all the time, and then you pull out a royal flush!"
The surrounding sounds of flattery and admiration washed over him like a tide.
But Li Weiguo just stood there, his mind a complete blank.
'Qin Feng?'
'1.23?'
He felt like his brain had completely shut down.
"Alright, Teacher Li, stop being so modest."
Zhao Zhenhua personally pushed the heavy briefcase into Li Weiguo's hands. "You deserve this. The school has already sealed Qin Feng's file as the very first entry in Seventh Middle School's 'Hall of Fame.' You are a great hero to our school!"
Li Weiguo mechanically, numbly, accepted the case.
He didn't know how he made it out of the principal's office.
He only felt that the ground beneath his feet was like cotton, and the congratulatory voices of the other teachers seemed distant and unreal.
He stumbled back to his empty office in a daze and shut the door with a THUD.
He casually tossed the briefcase, worth two hundred thousand, onto his desk, then collapsed into his chair as if all his strength had been drained.
He panted heavily, yanked his tie loose, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead.
A few seconds later, as if remembering something, he lunged toward his desk and turned on his personal terminal.
With trembling hands, he entered his homeroom teacher access code and pulled up the final grade files for all the students in Class 9-5.
His eyes skipped right over Zhou Heyuan at the top of the list. His fingers swiped rapidly, going straight to the name he had ranked at the very bottom.
[Name: Qin Feng]
[Life Force Index: 1.23]
[Qimingxing Overall Rank: 67321]
The crimson numbers seared themselves onto his retinas like a red-hot branding iron.
'It's real.'
'It's all real.'
At that moment, countless details he had overlooked flooded into his mind like a movie playing in reverse.
A month ago, at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, the astonishing "502 KG" reading on the punching power machine—a number he had mistakenly attributed to Zhou Heyuan.
The solitary figure on the training grounds, day after day, training with a mad, obsessive focus.
Those calm and determined eyes, even when no one believed in him.
And on the day they returned to school, the boy's aura as he walked to the podium—as steady as a mountain, completely different from a month before.
He understood everything.
He understood it all.
'I completely misjudged him.'
'From the very beginning, I was completely and utterly wrong about him.'
He had thought Zhou Heyuan was the uncarved jade, the lustrous pearl, and had poured all his effort into carving and polishing him.
He never realized that hidden in a corner of his own classroom was a true, peerless Divine Jade capable of shaking all of Qimingxing!
And he, the homeroom teacher who prided himself on his keen eye, had mistaken this Divine Jade for a worthless stone.
He had even come close to personally casting this Divine Jade into the mire of a "vocational school," leaving it to be buried forever.
"I..."
Li Weiguo opened his mouth, but only a dry, hoarse sound came from his throat.
He slowly raised his hands, looking at the same hands that had written countless lesson plans and graded countless assignments.
In this moment, he only felt that these hands were so foolish, so blind.
'If only...'
'If only I hadn't been so pragmatic, so quick to assume.'
'Thank god. Thank god the outcome was good.'
"I'm so fucking stupid!"
Li Weiguo cursed himself.
He looked at the two hundred thousand Imperial Coins on the desk and thought for a long time, finally deciding what to do with the money.